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Better understanding organic cosmetics

Are you interested in this Blog? It is, a priori, that you consider the BIO certification of cosmetic products very important to you. That's good, so do we! So much so, in fact, that we plan to make this post in several parts to treat the subject properly.

It's not necessarily obvious to understand the difference between conventional cosmetics, natural cosmetics and certified organic cosmetics. In exchanging with Les Poulettes community, we have indeed found it.

Everyone is talking about Green Beauty. Natural active ingredients are being promoted more than ever. Controversies regarding preserving agents are a topic known to the general public...
And yet, ORGANIC still remains a rather confidential category in the hygiene-beauty universe. To this day, organic cosmetics still only represent 5% of total cosmetic sales.
So you are part of a Select club of consumers (still a minority, but demanding and committed). And we thank you for it!

Some regulatory concepts:

In Europe, cosmetic products must comply with the Regulation of the European Parliament and Council, of November 30, 2009 (and its various amendments).

Cosmetic regulations are indeed adapting to the evolution of our health knowledge and our ethical and environmental choices.

The ban on animal testing in Europe is, for example, quite recent when you think about it: 2013. And the ban of certain parabens (such as isobutyl or phenyl paraben) only dates from 2014. Methylisothiazolinone (MIT), a preserving agent responsible for many cases of chronic allergic eczema, disappeared from the composition of leave-on products in 2017. As for D5 (also called Cyclopentasiloxane), it is a silicone that combines the status of endocrine disruptor and the characteristic of being bio-accumulative (booooo!) . It is therefore non-biodegradable and damages the oceans. (Re boooooo!). It was banned in January of this year 2020. The fish are wriggling with happiness and so are we.

 

Let's clarify that Europe still has a list of 1300 prohibited ingredients. While in the US, there are only... 30. So we are not so badly off on this side of the Atlantic, all the same.

That said, it's your body we're talking about. So you have every right to demand maximum safety from your products. The "You have to suffer to be beautiful" is completely outdated, Poulette's word.

The Precautionary Principle of BIO: never too cautious

However, the European law still authorizes many ingredients that are considered undesirable by different organizations or consumer associations. This is notably the case of many preserving agents considered as potential endocrine disruptors. This will undoubtedly evolve but in the meantime, to avoid taking risks, it is a good idea to turn to organic products.

In fact, the BIO labels that certify our products (Ecocert and Cosmos Organic) advocate the precautionary principle.

They impose on certified ORGANIC brands, such as Les Poulettes Paris, standards that are much stricter than the regulations in force and therefore prohibit the following ingredients or families of ingredients:

This certified green beauty blacklist is not exhaustive but gives a good idea of what organic cosmetics do not contain.

For more information see "Toxic molecules to avoid" on the site of what to choose

 

BUT WHY DO NON-ORGANIC BRANDS STILL USE CONTROVERSIAL INGREDIENTS?

You're going to ask us: if these substances are potentially dangerous or polluting, why don't all brands oblige themselves to avoid them, regardless of the BIO label?

Very good question.
One of the reasons for this is the difficulty of formulating an effective preservative system using only a limited palette of BIO-approved preservatives. Plus, these raw materials are more expensive!

For example, in conventional cosmetics, a good little dose of phenoxyethanol (easy to produce, cheap and radical against lots of bacteria) and it's -almost- done. 

The organic formulation forbids the phenoxyethanol which is potentially irritating. It will be necessary to rack our brains in the laboratory to make a complex and skilfully proportioned mixture of 3-4 active ingredients (often salts of organic acids, sorbic, salicylic or dehydroacetic acid, benzyl alcohol...), to achieve the same effectiveness. Indeed, there is no question of using mild preservatives or facilitating bacterial contamination or risking too rapid oxidation of the formula.

Note :

Ethanol (alcohol, the same as your favorite cocktails) is allowed in ORGANIC. It is not dangerous, toxic or polluting, but at Les Poulettes Paris, it is considered potentially drying for the skin, so it is also forbidden in the formulas of Les Poulettes Paris our face masks certified Organic and Made in France. For the aperitif on the other hand, we don't say no !

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